Drummer Danny Carey has often come off as an optimist regarding his band's ability to release its music (he expected Fear Inoculum to arrive last year). He tells Metal Hammer that there's good reason to believe Tool will get back into the studio soon after the Fear Inoculum album cycle.

"My hope is we get in and knock out another record," he said. "We have tons of material. It's not going to take 12 years, or if it does, I'll probably be so old I probably can't pick up my sticks any more! But my hope is we'll do another record and just keep moving forward."

Carey hedges, however, that putting a timetable on more new Tool music at this stage is unreasonable.

"We're going to tour on this [album] probably for two or three years at least, I imagine," he continued. "It feels like what we've done on every album, and then I guess we'll see where we're sitting after that."

Fear Inoculum also marks a turning point in the band's career, as it's the last album in a five-album deal with RCA. That means, going forward, Tool can choose a new record label if it wants.

The drummer notes the "motivation" the band will feel as "free agents," and the freedom not having a record contract will bring them.